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2304 Project 4: Infographic

(Long post incoming)

For the last project in 2304, I have to create a single scrolling infographic web page that tells a story from a distinct point of view. In this case, an infographic that discusses a psychological issue.

1) Research

All projects start with a Pinterest board, consisting of images of infographics and various web design trends I wanted to try and follow/recreate in this project.

Additionally, I created a list of ideas to determine which area to go, ranging from insomnia to anxiety. 

In the end, I chose OCD as there's a lot of misinformation about the disorder, resulting in many not taking it seriously. Before I got started with thumbnails, I created an outline detailing what I wanted to discuss in my infographic.

Research for this topic was pretty strenuous as it required the stitching of multiple sources, edited down to fit the pop-ups.

Lastly before continuing to thumbnails, I had to make two user persona/scenarios. These were created to get a feel of who the website targeted, using two profiles that are made up to fully match the infographic's objective.

2) Thumbnails

Next, I had to sketch a few wireframes to get a feel of what the infographic could look like and how it could work.

I decided to merge the ideas of the third and fourth idea together as they seem to fit my outline the closest.

3) Roughs

After choosing one of the thumbnails to move on development with, I had to do some quick tests in Adobe XD to fully understand its controls. I chose Adobe XD over InVision as I've had previous experience with XD in the past and prefer it over the latter.

After understanding the controls, it was time to develop the web page.

The process of creating the website involved the use of two apps, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe XD. 

All illustrations, icons, and background elements were made in Illustrator (along with the selection of the color palette) while assembling all elements together with text were in XD.

Second image was after a change to the color palette.

4) Finals

The infographic webpage was completed, complete with interactable buttons and transitions.

Visit the infographic webpage

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2304 Project 3: Ambient Advertising

This project involves a group of four members to design an ambient ad for Truth Initiative that encourages people to quit vaping. This advertisement must clearly and cleverly communicate a message to the brand’s audience, which will be presented by photoshopping the ad into the environment where it will appear. This will go through my individualized process, while also listing the group process where I can.

1) Research

Each of us decided to split up and do our research and conceptualize ideas so we can generate the most ideas. This will later turn out to be the worst thing we could’ve done, but that will come at a later point in the process work.

For me, the research involved looking at and collecting past ambient advertisements via Pinterest boards.

A crucial step I skipped out on involved word listing on advertisements and vaping, that was a lesson I’ve learned to not do ever again. This led me to pure confusion as my ideas were in the gray, or missing the point, as I wouldn’t targeting the right audience, or not understanding the use of its surroundings.

2) Thumbnails

There were a lot of ideas shared, meeting after meeting. In terms of my ideas, they varied from digital displays to a play on distorted mirrors.

This aspect of the project was the most difficult just due to our ideas not exactly working with the prompt and we weren’t satisfied with it. The group, including me, must’ve started fresh three to four times within two weeks.

Things started to fall into place when the concept of balloons came into play. The idea in this ad was that we want our balloons to be properly inflated, rather than deflated (there’s a Patriots joke in there somewhere), linking to the notion of shortness of breath being one of the side effects to vaping. 

That promptly shifted to transportation as you literally can’t go anywhere without noticing vehicles such as cars or bikes. Finally, we settled on using bikes with deflated tires at their parking racks to establish the idea of you not being able to “go anywhere without air.” We knew this one would be the idea to go with for our ambient advertisement project.

3) Roughs

I was in charge of the images created in Photoshop. Along the process I would share some unfinished roughs to get feedback if I was heading in the right direction, like this image. Which was very.... rough..... get it? Pun intended.

4) Finals

Henry and I then worked together to create the presentation’s design and layout, while Dondi and Hannah wrote the majority of the presentation’s content.

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2304 Project 2: Packaging Systems / Brand Artifacts

For the next step of our branding project, we have to create a three-piece packaging system for our products. The product’s boxes must be tied together thematically, while showing consistency in illustration, photography style and grid system structure.

1) Research

To begin, I continued to use and update the Pinterest board from the previous project, while creating a new board specifically for the brand Sabai and anything Thai related.

Skin Care Branding Project

Sabai (ARTC2304 Skin Care Branding Project)

These images from both boards were used as inspiration to develop package concepts.

2) Thumbnails

A total of 30 ideas were created, all with varying designs.

Later after discussion, six were chosen for further edits. 

In the end, multiple ideas were combined to create one packaging language that would work across all three products. Interestingly enough, the ones chosen weren’t the best ideas but was a combination of the second and the “wild card” ideas.

3. Rough (including Package Development)

A mockup for one of the products was created to see how layouts and proportions would be, and for the most part it worked out. 

Next step was cleaning up the designs, adding and/or subtracting elements across all four sides on the upper cover. Additionally, content was written for the boxes to add further legitimacy as if this was a real product, including directions, ingredients, a detailed description of the product, distribution information, and a short story about the company.

These designs were then transferred over to the other two products and were easily changed.

4) Finals

Last edited on Nov. 20th, 2019

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Type Reading for 21 Oct. 2019

Principles learned….

Typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read. Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn.

Pay attention to the details. It’s more than the letterforms themselves but also the kerning or tracking, that when worked together produces an outcome that may or may not work.

Legibility is important. If it looks good but is unreadable or vice versa, then it’s useless. It has to work together.

Text must work with other elements, such as pictures, captions, tables, diagrams, or notes, along with the shape and layout of the page to maintain consistency.

If text has many layers to it then it may need structure to help establish hierarchy and location throughout the text by using section heads, subheads, chapter heads, etc.

Takeaways

Type should invite the reader, reveal the meaning, clarify structure and order, be able to link with other elements, and induce a state of energetic repose.

Typography is to literature as musical performance is to the composition. Meaning that type can be used to invoke certain emotions or have us think differently using the information given, similarly to how a style of music when played differently, such as a pop song being played acoustically, can make its lyrics and story seem different.

Questions

What is lexicon in relation to type?

Does larger typographic palatte refer to different font styles and weights?

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2304 Project One: Logo Design / Brand Creation

For this project, I needed to create a brand, name the product, write a brand story, and design a logo for a skincare company. This logo and identity will be expanded upon in the next project for Project 2 by designing three different variations of packaging that will work systematically. This logo and brand must be able to work in all facets, from brand story, USPs, packaging, to advertising, in order to maintain consistency and overall theming.

1) Research

A word list was created after doing tedious research, which consisted of looking into current skincare brands, words associated to skincare, as well as creating a Pinterest board, used to research current logos and colors associated.

2) USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

“With love and care to your skin, from Thailand...”

The USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is used to attract new customers from other brands to this new brand. This statement, written as a love letter to your skin, enforces the point that many aspects of this skincare line comes from Thailand, both in materials/ingredients and routines, enticing those interested , from any age or gender, to try Sabai to experience overall comfort.

3) Brand Story

Sabai is a skincare brand, founded on a culture that is known for its rich value, beauty, and total relaxation. The term sabai is well known and used among locals and foreigners, typically used to describe overall happiness, peace, or comfort. Current brands use materials or ingredients that are either sourced from unfamiliar areas or is unnatural, leading to various incompatibilities with one’s skin. By fusing locally sourced and natural materials or ingredients with unique Thai-based routines together, it allows for a purely different experience to help anyone of all ages and genders become a fresher, younger, and more peaceful version of themselves.

4) Thumbnails

This step begins with thumbnails, consisting of various ideas blended into 30 logo sketches.

5) Roughs

Next step took the six best logo concepts from the 30 thumbnails and converted them into roughs.

6) Final

Step three involved the process of converting a couple icon roughs into one final logo for the branding. The logo was then partnered up with a custom font I had designed titled Bird, being named after the artist who’s known for the popular song “Sabai Sabai.” This was created specifically for the logo and other related branding for added consistency.

Last edit: October 21st, 2019

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Human-Centered Design: Elevating our Process

Previously, we’ve learned of the concept called “design-thinking” and how it’s vital to solving problems through a creative method. This ideology is a “human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success…” (Brown). By throwing out tried-and-tested methods and starting from scratch, design thinking results in new challenging ideas coming from any direction and open up an infinite amount of possibilities and solutions (Linke). It draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systematic reasoning, to explore possibilities of what could be—and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user (Naiman). This can be seen through the items we use every day, or even through our daily lives. However, there is another element that helps to creatively solve a problem. It’s called human-centered design.

Human-centered design is a process that starts with the people you’re designing for, ending with new solutions that are fitted to their needs accordingly (Design Kit). Every step of the process is made with you, the people, in mind. Brainstorming as many ideas as possible, building prototypes, sharing what your solution may be to the public, and ultimately releasing this completed idea out for everyone to use. This process consists of three phases, 1) inspiration, 2) ideation, 3) implementation. During the inspiration phase, you’ll learn about the issues that the people you’re designing for are having in order to fully understand where they’re coming from. Then in the ideation phase, you take what you’ve researched and learned about the problem and try to design and prototype possible solutions. Lastly, in the implementation phase, the final solution that is the most viable will come to life and eventually go live in the market. (Design Kit). What distinguishes human-centered design from other problem-solving approaches is the focus on “understanding the perspective of the people who experiences a problem, their needs, and whether the solution that has been designed for them is truly meeting their needs effectively or not.” For the most part, most people who experience a problem are a constant part of the design process and when possible, become part of the design team itself (DC Design).

Some believe that design-thinking is also known as human-centered design. Some also believe that human-centered design shares the same steps as design-thinking. That is far from the truth, the ideologies behind both greatly differ. Design thinking is “a process that you go through to create solutions that will actually be adopted by people,” while human-centered design is a “mindset that overlays design thinking to ensure that the products are actually relevant and beneficial— in the long run — for the people they are intended to serve…” (Hoover).  They’re not meant to be compared to each other, but rather complement each other in order for an idea to be successful. Design thinking is typically used to create market-based products and/or services. Human-centered design then helps out by providing a mindset and tools to ensure these products and/or services actually improve the lives of the end-users or beneficiaries (Hoover). Combined, they offer a process and mindset that creates self-sustaining solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges. For example, businesses could use design thinking to develop a viable solution that is capable of being financially successful, whether it’s a game, movie, or other forms of entertainment. By using human-centered design alongside design thinking, it will help ensure that their idea will actually serve the needs of the people.

Other than the three phases of human-centered design, there are other aspects to take into account when crafting a solution. First, always ask the right questions to find the solution. If you’re struggling to generate ideas or stuck in a product rut, you’re probably asking the wrong questions (Thomson). Second, think about the big picture. Don’t focus on one major aspect while neglecting smaller aspects of the solution, cover every aspect with the same care and consideration (Babich). Third, always test your decisions through prototypes and user feedback. No matter how much time you spend on ideating and prototyping your design solution, you should always test it with real people. The feedback from the testing session will help you understand what part of your design requires improvements (Babich). Fourth, take some time away from the desk and explore. To stay innovative, you need to stay inspired. Despite having so much information available behind the comfortable confines of your desk, you “risk mental stagnation when you fall into predictable routines.” Get out into the world and into the contexts that people are using your product – you’ll be surprised how quickly unexpected opportunities are revealed (Thomson). Fifth, think of design as a team sport. By forcing yourself to tell your ideas to someone else in words or sketches, you are advancing your thinking. Additionally, other collaborators will bring different point-of-views to the problem which elevates the work (Thomson). Most importantly, focus on the people behind the solution. Whatever you design, always thinking of people who’ll use your product. Those people are not abstract ‘users’ those are real human beings who will interact with your product. Keep in mind that your product is just a tool that helps them reach their goal (Babich).

I believe that much like design thinking, human-centered design is very important in our lives. I’d say maybe even more important than design thinking. While design thinking is more about how to solve the solution, human-centered design is more personal as it’s more suited to fit our personal needs. When used together with design thinking, it has a chance to bring us the best solution in terms of effectiveness and success.

Design, DC. “What Is Human-Centered Design?” Medium, DC DESIGN, 14 Aug. 2017, medium.com/dc-design/what-is-human-centered-design-6711c09e2779.

“Design Thinking: A Method for Creative Problem Solving.” IDEO, 6 Jan. 2018, www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking.

Hoover, Cole. “Human-Centered Design vs. Design-Thinking: How They're Different...” MovingWorlds Blog, 5 Oct. 2018, blog.movingworlds.org/human-centered-design-vs-design-thinking-how-theyre-different-and-how-to-use-them-together-to-create-lasting-change/.

Linke, Rebecca. Design Thinking, Explained. MIT Sloan, 14 Sept. 2017, mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/design-thinking-explained.

Naiman, Linda. Design Thinking as a Strategy for Innovation. Creativity at Work, 2016, creativityatwork.com/design-thinking-strategy-for-innovation/.

Thomsen, Dave. “Why Human-Centered Design Matters.” Wired, 7 Aug. 2015, www.wired.com/insights/2013/12/human-centered-design-matters/.

“What Is Human-Centered Design?” Design Kit, www.designkit.org/human-centered-design.

Babich, Nick. “Top 4 Principles of Human-Centered Design.” UX Planet, UX Planet, 11 Sept. 2018, uxplanet.org/top-4-principles-of-human-centered-design-5e02751e65b1.

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Design Thinking: The Innovative Process

Everything that we face in our lives wasn’t just created out of happenstance. There was a long process into the creation of the objects that surround our daily lives. Vehicles that we use to transport us from one location to the other wasn’t created overnight. The buildings we learn, work, or live in wasn’t just four walls and a roof put together within a couple days. This computer that I’m typing on currently isn’t just several components put together. Each of these things was carefully constructed and engineered together in order to serve an overall solution to various issues that face us. You could say the same thing about our personal lives. We didn’t get fit and healthy just by getting up and down on the couch. We didn’t pack for our vacations just by throwing clothes into a box. There was that one end goal we had and figured out the appropriate steps in between to create the best solution feasible. This is what design thinking is all about.

Though the process existed long before, the actual term “Design Thinking” was coined by Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO. This concept is a “human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success…” (Brown). Design thinking not only is an ideology but a process, concerned with solving complex problems in a highly user-centric way (Stevens). With design thinking, ideas can come from any direction, opening up an infinite amount of possibilities (Linke). Instead of repeating the same tried-and-tested methods, design thinking encourages us to throw away everything we know and start from scratch and consider alternative solutions that are out of the box, allowing us to challenge assumptions and explore new pathways and ideas. It draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systematic reasoning, to explore possibilities of what could be—and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user (Naiman).

Design thinking has many non-linear steps, meaning that it can technically be done in any order. It is flexible and fluid, looping back and around and in on itself. (Stevens). The steps involved in the design thinking process are simple in theory but difficult in execution. In the beginning, the problem must be completely defined and understood. This stage sometimes requires research to be completed in order to review previous solutions, what or what didn’t work out. Next, a wide range of possible ideas for a solution must be explored. Then these ideas must be iterated extensively through prototyping and testing. For these two parts of the process to work, we need to be comfortable with failure. This phase can be frustrating as we tend to want to hold on to our first idea, being emotionally attached to one concept we may see as “perfect.” As the idea begins to fall apart, so does the person themselves (Lahey). This is a perfectly good reason as to why we should always be open to anything, not all ideas are going to be perfect. Finally, the best feasible idea out of all is chosen and implemented into the final solution. This often does not solve just one issue, but rather many issues into one solution. Be aware that with each new discovery that a certain phase brings, you’ll need to rethink and redefine what you’ve done before (Stevens).

We may not be aware of it, but we all go through the problem-solving process. However, this concept of design thinking is a different form of thinking compared to the way we tend to usually think, which is based on our current needs through a simple yes-or-no answer without rational thought. For example, one could ask themselves “Should I go to a fast food chain or a sandwich shop?” Their gut feeling would be the fast food chain without hesitation. Afterward, they may regret it because of how awful and fatigued they might feel, wishing they might’ve chosen the other option. They didn’t think about every option clearly and became attached to one idea based on their current need which was hunger. This type of thinking is seen as “problem-based thinking” which tends to fixate on obstacles and limitations rather than “solution-based thinking,” coming up with something constructive to effectively tackle a certain problem, which is what design thinking is centered upon (Stevens). Everyone should go through this process instead of making a quick decision. Each decision has its own cause-and-effect. If you do this, what will become of that? You won’t fully be aware of what the result will be until it’s been done.

As co-founder and previous CEO of Apple before his resignation and death in 2011, Steve Jobs once said that the mistake that many of us make is we think that design is all about how it looks. “It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works…” (Walker). Again, this is what Design Thinking is all about. The usage of multiple steps, evaluation of numerous ideas, and execution of one overall solution based around multiple problems. I personally have been using this concept of design thinking for the past couple of years and has worked so much in my life, whether I use it for my designs or my personal life. I believe that Design Thinking or other solution-based thinking methods are superior to problem-based thinking methods in many different aspects, and we should all use this method more in our daily lives. This type of thinking elevates our mind into solving our problems in a more logical manner, resulting in the best solution imaginable. This type of thinking just doesn’t occur in the design field, it happens in literature, art, music, science, engineering, and even business (Dam, Siang). It isn’t a way to create beautiful houses or a pretty car, it’s made to solve problems in the most effective and innovative way. For us, we want our personal experiences and outcomes to be good, similar to how designers create a solution perfect for their end user, to improve their overall lives.

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Work Cited

Dam, Rikke, and Teo Siang. What Is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular? The Interaction Design Foundation, 18 Feb. 2019, interaction-design.org/literature/article/what-is-design-thinking-and-why-is-it-so-popular

“Design Thinking: A Method for Creative Problem Solving.” IDEO, 6 Jan. 2018, www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking.

Lahey, Jessica. “How Design Thinking Became a Buzzword at School.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 4 Jan. 2017, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/01/how-design-thinking-became-a-buzzword-at-school/512150/.

Linke, Rebecca. Design Thinking, Explained. MIT Sloan, 14 Sept. 2017, mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/design-thinking-explained.

Naiman, Linda. Design Thinking as a Strategy for Innovation. Creativity at Work, 2016, creativityatwork.com/design-thinking-strategy-for-innovation/.

Stevens, Emily. “What Is Design Thinking? A Comprehensive Beginner's Guide.” How To Become A User Interface (UI) Designer: A Step-By-Step Guide, Career Foundry, 5 Sept. 2018, careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/what-is-design-thinking-everything-you-need-to- know-to-get-started/.

Walker, Rob. “The Guts of a New Machine.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Nov. 2003, nytimes.com/2003/11/30/magazine/the-guts-of-a-new-machine.html.

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I do agree that Design Thinking is different but superior compared to other methods of solving our issues, as solution-based thinking allows for more freedom and innovation, can be performed anyway one wants, all resulting in the best possible solution. I’ve personally used this method of thinking for a while and it works wonders in my life as I feel more accomplished in my tasks whether it’s in design or my personal life. Design thinking can not only be used on a creative issue but on anything that is complex enough for various steps in order to maximize the amount of efficiency within a solution. This form of thinking could be done individually or in a group, which is certainly helpful to get more perspectives on a potential solution.

Design Thinking : The Nonlinear Creative Process

Every day there are thousands of design related problems seeking to be answered. In order to solve these problems, designers often use Design Thinking as a way to generate and test their ideas. Arne Van Oosterom, senior partner and founder at DesignThinkers Group, states that “I like design thinking because it gives me the freedom, it’s a mindset” (Allen). This represents that design thinking is not a step-by-step process, but it rather a process driven by a designer’s attitude to reach a certain goal. Design thinking is a nonlinear process that requires heavy thinking and an open mind in order to solve simple and complex creative problems.

When talking about design thinking, we can think of it as a problem solving approach used to determine the best way to achieve a certain creative outcome. The Stanford Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design has broken design thinking into a 5 stage process: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test (Dam and Siang). When we empathize, we conduct research about a topic which allows us to gain additional knowledge about the subject which opens room for discussion and a greater understanding. Defining the problem begins with analyzing the information found the emphasize stage and isolating the problem that is meant to be solved. Ideation includes the generation of ideas that are based off of research and seek to solve the problem identified earlier. Techniques for generating ideas include brainstorming, mindmapping, and storyboarding (Stevens); the main goal of ideation is to generate as many ideas as possible as this allows for a wide range of possible solutions. The prototype stage includes drawing sketches and creating mock-ups, which allows designers to choose the best possible solution and to possibly redesign and rework other solutions. Testing is the final stage in which prototypes are pushed to see if they solve the problem identified in the beginning and are altered for final production. Although design thinking appears to be sequential, it is rare that designers move from one step to another without revisiting previous steps for revision and redefining.

Design thinking can be viewed as a nonlinear process as there is no set direction for progress and some steps may be worked on out of order or repeated several times throughout the process. Michael G. Luchs states that “design thinking is best understood as an iterative approach to problem solving, rather than as a sequence of steps” (ch. 2). This means that each step in the process may be repeated in order to reach a certain outcome. When moving through the design thinking process, some designers may find it necessary to revisit some steps to achieve a better outcome. After working through the prototype stage, a designer may find it necessary to revisit the ideation stage in order to generate new ideas after seeing previous ideas are not solving the identified problem. If revisiting the ideation stage does not provide enough new ideas, a designer may also elect to restart the design thinking process and place more emphasis on the empathize stage or redefine and reanalyze the problem. By choosing to imagine design thinking as a nonlinear process, designers are able to explore more solutions and think “outside of the box.”

In my opinion, design thinking is necessary to solve a creative problem. Without it, we would not know where to start or how to generate ideas that would solve a problem. Design thinking also serves as a template that helps guides a designer through the creative process. By outlining each step, we are able to see what is needed to achieve a goal and how we can move from stage to stage. Choosing not to apply design thinking may result in a design that does not fully solve the original problem or lacks variety a we may generate few, incomplete ideas. Ken Stawarz, senior associate of Olenick & Associates, believes that design thinking is key in order for a project to run smooth and free of errors (Stawarz). From his personal experiences, he has noted that not following design thinking will lead to: “increased cost of the project and reduced overall quality of the project” (Stawarz). Stawarz’s experience shows how design thinking is absolutely necessary to solve creative problems and shows what is needed to achieve a creative goal.

Design thinking is not only common in the artistic world, but is often found in many other fields as it serves as the foundation for solving any creative problem. By using the stages of: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test, we are able to guide our minds through the creative process and work to achieve a specified goal. If all adapt to follow this mindset, we will develop the artistic abilities to create meaningful works of art and succeed in the creative world.

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Solution-based thinking will forever be better than problem-based thinking in my opinion. Trying to fixate on obstacles and limitations will always be worse than coming up with something constructive to effectively tackle a certain problem. Yes, problem-based thinking is easier when coming up with a final decision as it’s typically based upon a quick and simple question. However, Solution-based thinking, or design thinking, will always be superior as it takes into account all possible ideas and creates a solution that takes into account the effects of the said solution. Additionally, problem-based thinking is often used only for the simplest of issues as more complicated ones can become muddled, while solution-based thinking can be used for any small to large scale problem.

Design Thinking: Essay 1

Solving a problem sounds a lot easier when you put art into the equation because its not math, or the problem of world hunger. Actually that’s not the case. Solving problems in the design world is difficult because of how different everyone’s views and perceptions of the problem are. There truly is no right or wrong answer. The way designers get the most out of their final productions is by using Design Thinking. Design thinking is the foundation of a well thought out outcome. Whether it is in the Graphic Design world or in the real world, Design Thinking gets the problem solved.

In her article Design Thinking as a Strategy for Innovation, Linda Naiman asked an important question: “How do you create a strategy for guaranteeing that innovation and creativity flourish in your organization?” This question is answered by Design Thinking. Naiman talks about the importance of using Design Thinking in all of its forms by encouraging designers to not think about problem solving, but rather solution focused. I agree with this viewpoint because focusing on a problem and trying to fix it feels and sounds a lot more negative than focusing on creating a solution. I think its small things like this that increase the positivity and creativity in workplaces. Implementing this positive solution driven viewpoint into all work should help boost the quality of output.

Design Thinking is an important part of creating a final solution to any problem in a designers career. “And it’s not just for designers, tech companies, or design-centered organizations. I’ve found it particularly valuable for tackling problems (aka “design challenges”) that are abstract in nature, regardless of industry, function, or geography” (Design Thinking Is For Everyone). Every company should try to incorporate Design Thinking into their workers plans. Brainstorming and research, the first few steps in Design Thinking, are the beginnings of any good plan. Whether it is a bakery or a hotel company, any problem can be solved if you start with a good foundation. Companies need to find ways to implement their own tweaks into the Design thinking process by adding or subtracting various processes to make them more efficient.

As with anything, there is criticism that comes with the popularity of Design thinking. In A Designer Addresses Criticism of Design Thinking, Connie Malamed offers a solution to many of the criticism that Design Thinking gets. She truly believes in the way Design Thinking can help anyone and everyone solve their problems.  She says, “To me, design thinking is not just a process, a strategy, or a tool. It’s a movement that’s advanced across decades with the potential to deliver positive changes to anyone hungry to use it.” I agree with this viewpoint because of how universal Design Thinking is. The trouble people have with it is the lack of awareness, and the lack of support. Throughout her article, Malamed offers various solutions like “accidental teaching”, which is not directly teaching Design thinking and giving it a label, but rather formulating a question the right way so that Design Thinking will get used in the long run.  

The Design Thinking process is an important part of everyone’s lives. How you implement it is up to you, but using Design Thinking as a tool to help find a solution should be taught all over the world. I think introducing others to this method, and reading up on how people have been positively influenced by this method can help me grow stronger in the way I implement this method in my own work.

https://www.creativityatwork.com/design-thinking-strategy-for-innovation/ 

https://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/a-designer-addresses-criticism-of-design-thinking 

https://theaccidentaldesignthinker.com/2017/10/14/design-thinking-everyone/

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Project 1: Pictogram System  •  Implementation (Final Outcome)

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Project 1: Pictogram System  •  Exploration (Roughs)

When reviewing all nine thumbnails, one was chosen as the system to continue progress on which that was the “Experimental System, Line-Based Style” (figure A). The next step is to make adjustments such as cleaning up the patterns, adding or subtracting certain features, correct the layout and the positioning of the animals, and more (figure B). In the end, the noticeable changes included an overhaul of the snake’s icon, adding the tail of the lemur, the body of the giraffe, and the wings for the great egret (next post).

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Project 1: Pictogram System  •  Ideation (Statement of Intent)

The zoo features a huge variety of animals present for visitors to view and/or study upon. The system for this project must be able to show that diversity through icons, no matter what animal is chosen and represented. The four animals selected for this project includes a snake, lemur, giraffe, and crane. Each animal within the icon is created with a line-based design that is used to accentuate the features of the animal, whether it’s a long neck, a tail, wings, and more. The lines used to construct each animal is appropriately spaced in order to maximize the most negative space possible while still being unique and distinct in any size, small or large.

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Project 1: Pictogram System  •  Interpretation (Sketches/Thumbnails)

Now that I have my animals chosen, the task was to figure out what direction to take the pictogram solutions to. Not only did I have to come up with multiple “decent“ ideas but I also had to make sure I had enough ideas to make three systems with three variations each, making nine different thumbnails in total.

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Project 1: Pictogram System  •  Discovery (Research)

As the project begins, I need to first figure out the four animals that I’ll be using for the symbols/icons. In order to choose it, I had to research similar characteristics between any animals that came across my mind. In the end, I chose a snake, lemur, giraffe, and great egret (think of a crane but with a super extended neck). All four had similar characteristics as they had various patterns or long features such as a neck or tail.

From here, I began to create Pinterest boards based on each animal of my choosing. I made sure to include 20+ pictures in each board to ensure that I can see any feature of the animals as I create ideas for the end project.

Snake: https://pin.it/77jjnuljymmosp

Lemur: https://pin.it/mgs2k6kraocjvg

Giraffe: https://pin.it/plavwb2a2lnbhd

Great Egret: https://pin.it/5rc56xzvo24qpi

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Civali Header

by indro

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New Slack Brand identity. – More here 

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Pattern by Steve Wolf